When people talk about ‘gay travel’ you’d be forgiven for thinking gay people only took road trips on Pride floats, or camped in rainbow-coloured tents. That we boycotted culture, scenery and local life to run straight to the nearest gay bar screeching, ‘We’re here, we’re queer, now pour us a beer!’
But as every homo nomad knows, travel is about discovering something new and enjoying the otherness of elsewhere. If there happens to be a gay scene where we land then great, but if we’re on safari in South Africa, dune-bashing in the Dubai desert or shopping in Tokyo, then searching out a scene is probably the last thing on our minds.
OK, so you just got back from a lesbian cruise, or a week in West Hollywood… there is, of course, a time and a place for a ‘gaycation’. But show me someone who has only ever travelled on a boat full of bikini-clad women, or seen a city through a haze of muscle Marys and I’ll eat my boarding pass.
Gay travellers are as diverse as any other group and while some may be content to not see another homo for a whole trip, others will also enjoy a mojito or two in a boy bar, or have gone specifically to experience a lifestyle they don’t have access to at home.
It’s about options — knowing what, if anything, a destination has to offer the gay community alongside everything else, so we can make informed choices about what to see, do or avoid.
And this is precisely why more cities should take London’s lead in opening a dedicated GLBT tourist office.
In the heart of Soho, above Ku Bar, the capital’s newly opened Gay Tourist Office is home to all the information gay visitors to London could possibly need.
It feels more like a boutique hotel lobby than a traditional tourist office. Here you can get a drink from the bar and surf the web, buy tickets for shows or club nights, get top tips on bars, clubs, shops, cafes and special events, and discover some secret hot spots by chatting to the well-versed staff.
And it’s not just for tourists: long-term Londoners will find something new here, even if it’s just where all the cool kids hang out since Trash Palace closed.
So ‘gay travel’ may not mean flying a rainbow flag from our hotel window, but it does have a place in the plethora of travel options on the market. Now gay people can expect to holiday with a partner without raising eyebrows or having to push twin beds together, making the most of a destination — whatever that may be — is what matters.
Find out more at gaytouristoffice.co.uk. Read more Gay London posts.
